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BLATANT PLUGGING

*** JOIN US AT THE VERY FIRST LMN ALBUM OF THE MONTH PLAYBACK PARTY: Next Thursday the London Music Network launches a new monthly showcase party to celebrate the albums that the LMN, Evening Standard and CMU music teams are most excited about. This month we will officially launch the excellent new album from Freeform Five - Strangest Things. The LMN Playback Party is by invite only - but as CMU Daily reader consider yourself invited. Tickets are strictly limited, so respond now to playback@cmumusicnetwork.co.uk. It all takes place at the new Marquee club on Leicester Square on 28 Oct. See you there.

*** WORKING IN COLLEGE RADIO, COLLEGE PRESS, UNION ENTS OR COMMUNICATIONS? Join the College Media Network and receive the latest college and media news, tips and interviews and great showcasing opportunities. Membership is free - send an email to collegemedianetwork@unlimitedmedia.co.uk and we will send you an application form.

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SAME SIX QUESTIONS: Osunlade

How did you start out making music for a living?
I got into soundtracks as a teenager, then went on to work in music for Sesame Street in LA in 1987. My first album project was with Jeff Daniels of Shalamar in 1989. I fell in love with house music, and contiunued production. My first solo album was Paradigm in 2001. I also run my own label - Yoruba.

What inspired your latest album?
It's a collection of remixes. Pete Adarkwah from BBE talked me into it, the idea was to release some of my hard-to-get cuts on one CD, as some remixes were never released on 12 inch.

What process do you go through in creating an album?
When I do a remix I listen to the melody. I prefer not to listen to the original and prefer the acappella to be sent to me. I am influenced by soul music so try to incorporate that.

Which artists influence your work?
House music was big influence - Masters at Work really showed how it could be done. Soul based - Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Prince - doing his projects one-handed - was an inspiration. I listen to a whole load of artists to have a wide appreciation of music as a whole.

What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
It's soul music - not soul in the sense of the category, but music that touches the soul. It has a house element, but I'm not just a house producer or an artist.

What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I hope people get into the album especially for those people who haven't been able to track down some of the cuts. Back in the US I am on tour with my live 9 piece band, and starting my new album - it's written already, it only needs recording now!!

'Osunlade presents the Yoruba Soul Mixes' was released on BBE Records on 18 Oct. Press info from the Play Centre. lisa@theplaycentre.com

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LOVE FAILS TO GET CHARGES REDUCED
Courtney Love's lawyers have failed in an attempt to get the singer's pending assault charges reduced to lesser misdemeanour charges. In the latest in a string of legal woes, Love is charged of assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly attacking a woman at an ex-boyfriend's house in LA back in Apr.

After hearing the case for reducing the level of the charges, Superior Court Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said yesterday: "There is uncontroverted evidence that without provocation the defendant threw a bottle at the victim and chased her with a flashlight".

The decision followed a testimony by Kristin King, the woman Love is alleged to have attacked. She told the court that Love was "vicious" and "erratic" when she allegedly attacked her while she slept on a sofa. She told the court Love sat on her, pulled her hair and pinched her left breast in the "worst pinch I ever had".

Speaking outside the court, Love's lawyer Howard Weitzman said that despite his client's many legal problems at the moment she was on good form and keen to end her recent string of run-ins with the law.

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MOBY PRAISES EMINEM VIDEO
Despite past feuding (he called him "homophobic and misogynistic", he responded by calling him a "thirty-six-year-old bald-headed fag"), Moby has praised Eminem's new track 'Mosh', and the animated video that illustrates it, which went online this week. Mosh is an anti-Bush rant encouraging young people to use their vote to bring about change in the US (please kids, please vote him out...).

Recommending that they check out the video and track, Moby has told his fans: "You know that Eminem and I have had our differences in the past, but this video is the best thing that I've seen all year. It's an amazing song and an even more amazing video."

KEITH RICHARDS TO APPEAR IN PIRATES SEQUEL
Rolling Stone Keith Richards is set to play Johnny Depp's father in the sequel to 'Pirates Of The Caribbean'. It was Depp himself who apparently convinced the old rocker to accept the role after basing his character in the original film on Richards.

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BOWIE PRODUCER SAYS DVD NOT FAULTY
David Bowie's producer Tony Visconti says sound problems on the DVD release of 'A Reality Tour' are because of technical problems with some older model DVD players and not down to the mastering of the disk itself. His comments follow complaints about the "compression" of sound during some tracks.

Writing on Bowie's website he says: "I can now positively say that there is no manufacturing fault with the Dublin Live DVD. Unfortunately Surround Sound is still in its infancy. So many incompatible formats are available to the public and then there are so many options available in the way you can enhance the playback. As an audio professional this makes me very sad, because Surround Sound is a fantastic way to listen to music. For those of you who are still hearing this 'compression' effect, you'll just have to get into those menus and tweak. This is not a fault of [the DVD's producers] Sony, Blink TV or anyone involved in the making of this fine David Bowie release."

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DESTINY'S CHILD SAY REUNION WAS STRESSFUL
Destiny's Child have told reporters that working together in the studio after a three year break was a stress-induced "nightmare", and that the early output was pretty awful. Beyonce explains: "We had two studios set up at the same time. The way we recorded the album was very different. We got sent thousands of tracks from different producers - but after picking out 30 we liked - they all started sounding the same."

Kelly adds: "Some days I was like, 'What are we doing? This is not a good song. Let's go to the next.' I had to calm down because I was so anxious. All of us were."

But the girls assure us things soon improved and as they started to work on their own songs they started producing work they were happy with.

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BON JOVI CONFIRM NEW YEAR ALBUM
Bon Jovi have confirmed they will release a new album early next year and will go on tour in late Spring. Describing the album as a "loud guitar, big rock record" guitarist Richie Sambora told MTV: "I think we stumbled upon something again on this particular record, kind of like what happened with 'It's My Life'. When that came out, it seemed to give Bon Jovi a whole new audience. We've always had a vast audience base, but with this new record, what I'm feeling is it's kind of a new direction. It sounds very fresh, yet it sounds like us."

As previously reported, a CD/DVD box set called '100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong' will be released on 16 Nov.

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P DIDDY APPEARS IN SOUTH PARK
P Diddy is set to appear in this week's episode of South Park in the US. Spoofing the hip hop mogul's recent Vote Or Die campaign which encourages young Americans to vote, P Diddy will show up in South Park after Stan refuses to vote in an election for a mascot - apparently set on killing Stan for his refusal to participate in the democratic process.

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APPLE EXTEND ITUNES ROUND EUROPE
With Apple's announcement earlier this week that they are launching all sorts of new iPod players - including the U2 branded player - it was easy to miss the other major development in all things iTunes. Apple this week turned on their download service in nine more European countries - Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. They also confirmed their intention to open their doors in Canada next month.

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SINGLE REVIEW: Nylon Rhythm Machine - Chimera EP (Catskills Records)
The second EP - and apparently a triumphant return to boot, it says here - from Nylon Rhythm Machine (aka Flex, although that's quite likely be a pseudonym too, really) is a hotch-potch of lo-fi folktronica with the odd moment of real quality. With its vocodered vocals, cheeky moog motif (recalling the likes of Orbital and Alpinestars) and laidback strummed guitars, the folky 'Starway To Mars' sounds like Badly Drawn Boy in retro-futurist mood, particularly chilled out in his bedroom after listening to some vintage Air. It also blatantly plagiarises, albeit in a subtle and endearing way, the tune from Baby Bird's 'Your Gorgeous'. 'Agent Orange' and 'The Holy Mountain', meanwhile, are quirky and pastoral but ultimately forgettable; music to inoffensively soundtrack some children's TV programmes you'll never see. The pretty 'Venom' is better though. With its cascading, forlorn piano riff and tense strings, it's by far the most emotionally resonant track here. Recalling the cutesy bedroom doodlings of Short Break Operator (a CMU favourite from last year [apparently!]) although without being quite as memorable or charming, this single nonetheless does suggest potential. MS
Release date: 18 Oct
Press contact: Catskills IH [all]

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OUTKAST GET MULTI-PLATINUM AWARD FOR DOWNLOADS
Talking of downloads, OutKast are the first act to receive a US multi-platinum award for a legit download. They received the award for selling in excess of 400,000 downloads of their track 'Hey Ya'. Not only that, but they picked up additional platinum awards (200,000 sales) for The Way You Move and Roses.

Among the other RIAA awards distributed for download sales were platinum awards to Maroon 5, D12 and Hoobastank, and gold awards (100,000 sales) to Beyonce and Usher.

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VIRTUAL FESTIVALS LAUNCH INSTANT NEWS SERVICE
Virtual Festivals have launched a new live music news service which delivers stories directly to music fans' desk tops as soon as they break. To receive the news subscribers download a special instant messenger type tool from the Virtual Festivals website

Virtual Festival boss Steve Jenner explains: "Users visit VirtualFestivals.com because they trust us to give them the most up-to-date, objective and reliable festival and live event news, fast. Live music is enjoying a massive resurgence and with festivals, tours and concerts selling out faster than ever, it is essential for fans to have an instant, dependable source of information."

ALMOND OUT OF INTENSIVE CARE
How about some good news for a change? Marc Almond has left intensive care, where he has been recovering from the surgery he required after that motorcycle crash a couple of weeks back. A message on his website says he has been moved to another ward "because of the progress he has made so far". However the website does stress that: "he still has a long way to go in his recovery".

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CELEBS LINE UP FOR FAIR TRADE POSTERS
Chris Martin, Bono, Jamelia, Michael Stipe and Thom Yorke are among the celebs set to appear on a series of posters for Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. Word is Martin has been photographed under a mountain of rice for his poster, while Stipe is covered in milk, Jamelia appears concealed by nothing more than feathers while Thom York appears to be covered in blood - lovely.

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LIVE REVIEW: The Earlies/Micah P Hinson/Half Cousin at The Scala on 25 Oct
The Scala is way swisher than your average indie flea pit and the audience are more your Uncut reading chin strokers rather than NME moshers. Tonight's triple bill is guaranteed to be approved by the readership of the former publication. First up are eccentric folkies Half Cousin. The nucleus of the four piece from the Orkneys are Kevin Cormack and Jimmy Hogarth. Cormack's thick Scottish brogue charms on idiosyncratic tunes like 'Mrs Pilling', which sounds like a cross between Arab Strap and Simon and Garfunkle. The shuffling, clumpy beats and wistful vocals of 'Country Cousin' are equally endearing. Micah P Hinson is a Texan troubadour whose dark tales of heartbreak belie his twenty two years. His debut album 'Micah P Hinson and Gospel of Progress' was produced by his chums the Earlies, some of whom join him on stage tonight. The Earlies are a half British/half American four piece but on stage their numbers are swelled to up to eleven people to recreate their rich psychedelic music. Their dreamy sprawling sound and Brandon Carr's high pitched vocals are very reminiscent of Grandaddy/Flaming Lips. The various band members switch between playing a bewildering array of instruments, both traditional and electronic, and take turns to introduce the songs. Stand out tracks include long, rambling epics 'One Of Us Is Dead' and 'Wayward Son' from the album 'These Were... The Earlies'. All in all a delightful evening for chin strokers and an interesting one for music fans generally. JW

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PRINCE OF WALES PARTIES BEFORE HARLEM ARRIVES
Brixton boozer The Prince Of Wales has been bought by Arthur Baker and promoter Hopson Jones and is set to be converted into their newest Harlem Bar / Restaurant / Club in late Feb. However, before conversion work they are throwing nightly parties for the next two months, to help properly kill off the old pub. It all kicks off next week with the following nights:

6 Nov: Melonphunk
Melonphunk after a long earned break, return to its place of birth, Brixton. Music from 9pm till 4am

7 Nov: Globetrotting [a weekly night]
Pathaan of Stoned Asia Music returns to Brixton, after two years absence. Having successfully held a residency of the same name in West London's Harlem, Pathaan bring his infectious mix to the South too, mixing fluidly between afro-beat, reggae, rock, classical, Brazilian, soul, easy listening, rare electronic music, Balearic and of course Asian as well as many other styles. Music from 6pm till 12.30am

All nights are free before 9pm, £5 afterwards.

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CLEAR CHANNEL ACQUIRE SENSIBLE EVENTS
Clear Channel continued their bid for world domination - I mean growth through acquisition strategy, this week by announcing they had acquired Andrew Zweck's Sensible Events company.

Zweck made his name in the live entertainments sector working with Harvey Goldsmith - he was Production Director on Live Aid back in 1985. He formed Sensible Events in 1996 and it quickly became a leading artist and talent agency, booking and producing worldwide tours for artists like Mark Knopfler, Roger Waters and Depeche Mode. The company will continue to run as an autonomous body within the Clear Channel group, with Zweck staying in the top job. Zweck will also take on the role of Vice President of Touring for Clear Channel Europe.

Announcing the acquisition CCE Global Music President Michael Rapino told reporters: "It's great to have yet another world class agent with an outstanding track record joining our European team. I'm sure that Andrew's talents and worldwide experience will be an invaluable asset in the future success of Clear Channel Entertainment."

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BRITNEY PREGNANT?
Stop the presses, Britney is reportedly pregnant - again. A 'source' has told US Weekly magazine that "[Husband] Kevin [Federline] himself called with the good news."

That said, a spokesman for the singer told the Sun today: "She is not pregnant", so, on second thoughts, keep those presses going.